Devoto: MOTM

By P G Tips
April 20 2015

Three premiership matches to go and Bath are pushing for a home semi final. There are no easy fixtures any more, especially when ambition dictates a need for bonus points, but Bath’s run-in is, on paper at least, kinder than those faced by their rivals for top 4 places. With two of the remaining three fixtures at home, it seems that Bath have their fate in their own hands. So what should we expect from Friday evening’s clash with London Irish? Irish do not seem to have benefitted from the coaching of the recently departed Brian Smith in the past two seasons. Indeed, not long ago they seemed unable to raise the spirit that fellow strugglers Newcastle showed so much of two weekends ago. Now, however, Glenn Delaney has started to fashion a more disciplined and confident Irish, who put on a good performance to beat Sale on 12 April. They will be eager to finish their season strongly.  

Up front their principal threats are hooker Paice and flanker Cowan, both of whom can be persistent nuisances at the breakdown and around the fringes of the setpiece. Their front five are solid, if not dominating, but behind they have pace in the back three which could hurt Bath if the home team are sucked into defending on a narrow front. Their centres, Mulchrone & Sheridan are a good pairing of broadsword and rapier, capable of finding holes in the first defensive line and will aim to keep Bath’s cover busy throughout.

For his last three matches, Mike Ford will want to balance rotation and game time for his squad, to ensure that they reach the final stages with as many as possible fit and the combinations working well together. He will hope that the stand-in choices at tight head can hold their own until the arrival of the cavalry: the return of Thomas and Wilson. Elsewhere in the side, recent matches have shown that competition for starting places is fierce – especially in the back five of the pack and the threequarters. Ford has said that he intends to continue Sam Burgess’s education at 6 against Irish and Olly Devoto was Man of the Match last time out, so the Kingston Park starting XV could well be chosen en bloc. There would be good arguments though for change on the bench. Hooper & Eastmond are now fit, Agulla has been in great form and if Chris Cook is fit, he will be pressing for inclusion too. At loose forward, both Carl Fearns and Alfie Fa’osiliva featured strongly against Falcons, but there might be a temptation to offer David Sisi a chance from the bench to impress his loan masters of next season.

Whatever the selection, the coaches have committed to play “the Bath way” in the final Premiership rounds. The team will go out to play what is in front of them, improvise when it looks on and go for tries. Is this a hostage to fortune, forecasting the playing style and giving the opposition the chance to plot the counter strategy? Or is it simply a reflection of Bath’s confidence that their play, not the opposition’s, will decide their fate? I expect that to be the case. Chaos, of the sort Bath relish, as opposed to the furious mayhem of past Irish sides, should win the day. Ten league points from the last three matches should be enough for Top 4. For a home semi, twelve to fifteen will be needed. The fans will be demanding bonuses as well. Irish will have no intention of being lambs to the slaughter, but a home win looks to be on the cards. Bath by 10.

Possible Teams:

Bath: Auterac, Batty, Lahiff, Garvey, Day, Burgess, Louw, Houston. Stringer, Ford. Banahan, Devoto, Joseph, Rokodoguni,Watson Bench: James, Webber, Palma -Newport, Hooper, Fa’osiliva. Cook, Eastmond, Homer

London Irish:Court, Paice, Paufriman; Skivington (capt),Rouse; Sinclair, Cowan, Guest., Steele, Noakes. Lewington, Mulchrone, Sheridan, Ojo. Fenby.

Bench: Stevens, Hagan, Aulika, Leo, Treviranus, Allison, Geraghty, Fowlie.

Go for Five! Bath v London Irish

Discussion started by Comeonmylovers.co.uk (IP Logged), 20/04/2015 16:42

Comeonmylovers.co.uk
20/04/2015 16:42

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2015:05:04:16:20:00 by Stuart Anderton.

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abendanon-anon-anon
20/04/2015 19:31

Interesting Read PG
Do Bath go in with all guns blazing - does it matter if we leak a couple of tries as long as we get 4 and a win with 5 points?

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Exile44
23/04/2015 17:00

As an Irish fan, I would suggest the key would be balance.

From the start, it would seem on paper to be a very likely home win and I'm expecting that to be the outcome - but I think it's dangerous to go out all guns blazing right from the off.

Sale came down to Reading trying to do just that and ended up forgetting to build any kind of score, hence losing the game and going away frustrated. If Bath try to come out looking for the five they could end up the same way.

On the other hand, if they build a score, focus on winning the match first and look for later opportunities, they could quite comfortably end up with the full five points. We have struggled massively to keep a full quota of 15 players on the field this season, particularly against strong packs. We may well be able to come over there and nick a few tries - we may well even match Bath on the try count (as we did with Sale last time out) but we will most likely give out a high number of penalties in the process which could be the real difference - providing Bath take points off them and don't try to bash every one in the corner.

We've also started very very slowly in the last two games but had very strong fight backs towards the middle of the game and finished well. I would suggest being pragmatic until the game is out of sight and then go for it later on - if we're still in it on 60 minutes I can see us having a real shot at taking the win.

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